1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

I am writing to express deep alarm over the ongoing U.S. war in Iran—launched without congressional authorization and without a clear legal basis. Beyond the immediate human cost and the risk of regional escalation, this war is undermining the international rules-based order that the United States helped build after World War II. For decades, American leadership has rested not only on military power but on a commitment—however imperfect—to international law, norms, and institutions meant to restrain exactly this kind of unilateral war. That system has served the United States well. It has strengthened alliances, stabilized global markets, and reinforced American credibility around the world. This war abandons those principles. By initiating a major military conflict without congressional authorization or a clear international mandate, the United States is effectively embracing the dangerous doctrine that “might makes right.” That is precisely the worldview we have long opposed. Russia used that logic to justify its invasion of Ukraine. China may use the same logic to justify aggression against Taiwan. When the United States disregards the rules it once championed, we weaken our ability to oppose those actions and hand authoritarian powers a powerful argument: if Washington ignores international norms when convenient, why shouldn’t they? In this way, the war in Iran does not strengthen American security—it erodes it. It weakens our credibility, damages our alliances, and accelerates the breakdown of a global system that has helped prevent great-power war for generations. Congress has both a constitutional and moral responsibility to act. Democrats in Congress must stop treating this like normal politics. You should not allow business-as-usual to continue while the United States wages an illegal and dangerous war. Do not allow unrelated legislation to move forward. Do not provide political cover. Use every procedural tool available to obstruct congressional business until this issue is addressed. Force votes. Demand hearings. Demand transparency and accountability from the administration. Demand a clear legal justification for this war and an immediate path to de-escalation. Americans overwhelmingly do not want this war. They deserve to see their elected representatives fighting every day to end it. This should dominate the national conversation until Congress reasserts its constitutional authority and the United States returns to the principles that have guided global stability for decades. If the United States abandons the rules-based order it helped create, the world will not become safer or more stable. It will become more chaotic, more dangerous, and more dominated by the very powers whose behavior we once sought to restrain. Congress must act now.